For many centuries, wood has been a material that has been primarily used in the areas of construction and carpentry. Although not as prevalent as in the past, lumber is still today considered as a very important and useful material for construction, carpentry, cabinet making, etc. Lumber is a natural product that comes from trees and as many natural products, every piece of lumber is different and may have flaws, such as knots, rot, bark, etc. that may or may not be important depending on intended use. For example, the presence of knots in a piece of lumber might be immaterial in carpentry, but undesirable for other types of use, such as for cabinet making.
In order to classify lumber according to intended use or to specific requirements from clients, the lumber industry inspects its lumbers using linear inspection systems. Linear inspection systems use different technology, such as a combination of cameras and lasers, to classify lumber. Typically, the linear inspection system is made of four stations of cameras and lasers placed on top, bottom, right and left of the lumber production line so as to inspect each side of a piece of lumber flowing through the production line. These devices operate in a very demanding environment, filled with dust, debris falling from lumber and the occasional debris flying at high speed. Hence, these delicate electronic instrumentations need to be protected accordingly. Unfortunately, existing linear inspection systems do not always effectively protect the cameras and laser stations. Moreover, the bottom station is often subject to debris accumulation.
There is therefore a need for an improved linear inspection system.